THE ATTACKS ON THE SAUDI OIL TANKERS 5-11-19
"The Iranian Foreign Ministry described the incidents as "alarming and regrettable," called for further clarification about what exactly happened, and warned of "adventurism" by foreign players to disrupt maritime security in the region."
https://www.rferl.org/a/saudi-arabia-oil-tankers-sabotage/29936955.html
REMARKS: Yes, I agree with that, foreign players. There are those who seek to destabilize the Middle East, formerly those included the Operation Clean Break authors, contributors, but the narrative still lasts to this day.
http://yalibnan.com/2019/05/09/pompeo-warns-of-imminent-iran-threat-on-surprise-trip-to-iraq/
No, I am NOT saying rogue US forces were behind this, there are Yemeni Houthi rebels who are fighting back the ongoing war and carnage in their own country, they have plenty of reason to want to sabotage Saudi. There is also a prophecy given to the Prophet of Islam, peace be upon him and all the prophets, that in the End Times, one of the things that would happen would be that the oil fields in Saudi would all be on fire, and the fires would be so bad that people would have to migrate up to al Sham, which is Syria. How could that happen? My best guess would be by nuclear attack. By who? who would have the motivation? Iran does not want a war, but if you bring it, they will fight. Their Revolutionary Guards are fedayeen, that means that they do not worry about losing body parts, they will fight till they are victorious against their enemy or they are martyred. Either is fine with them.
[Edited on 5/14/2019 by gina]
HOW IRAN CAN GET AROUND THE SANCTIONS AND SELL OIL ANYWAY
1- Use ghost tankers
One tactic previously employed by Iran to bypass U.S. sanctions and sell its oil is through the use of "ghost" tankers. Iran has hidden the destination of its oil sales by strategically switching off oil tankers' AIS signal, an automatic tracking system. This has made it difficult to pinpoint the origin, route, and the date a tanker is loaded and unloaded.
2- Discharge and reload at remote ports.
Other tactics used by Iran at sea include ship-to-ship oil transfers and discharging and loading oil at remote ports. Tehran has also been known to reflag its tankers and use documents from other countries to mask their ships' origins.
3- Trade in other currencies not US Dollars
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran plans to get around U.S. sanctions by selling oil in other currencies.
"You can use your own currency," he told reporters in New York in September, saying countries were making deals with Tehran to use their own currencies in bilateral trade. "Sell stuff in your own currency, buy stuff in the other country's currency, and at the end of a specific period, balance it out in a non-dollar currency. It's quite possible. And may even be profitable."
4 - Barter deals with other countries
ussia has said it would buy at least 100,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil. Moscow has offered to pay for the oil with Russian machinery and food, according to Russia's Oil Ministry. Moscow has also pledged to invest in the Iranian oil sector as Western companies draw back.
In 2017, Russia implemented an oil-for-goods program with cash-strapped Iran, with Moscow buying Iranian oil in exchange for Russian goods, including oil pumps and pipes, gas-drilling equipment, metal and wood products, leather, and wheat. The two countries have been working on oil-for-goods deals worth up to $20 billion.
5 - Sell on a private exchange -
Iran also has the option of selling oil through the Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX), a rial-based, domestic oil exchange.
REMARKS: Iran is trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution to this problem, but if push comes to shove they will not lay down, whimper and die from a sanctions stranglehold.
[Edited on 5/13/2019 by gina]
WHY SANCTIONING CHINA IS A BAD STRATEGY
Trump's Trade War is Already Over by Tom Luongo
"China is still running a massive trade surplus and that is true. But from the perspective of US trade, that is as much a function of Trump’s own profligate spending habits as any structural inequalities.
Trump is running a $1 trillion budget deficit. This is money that is conjured up out of thin air by the miracle of selling bonds. $1 trillion in bonds. Where do you think those $1 trillion in government expenditures goes to?
No. It goes to China. It also finds its way into the US equity market Trump is so in love with and other places that produce goods that we Americans buy with that money. If Trump wants to win the trade war with China he should consider spending a little less money, allow consumer prices here in the States to fall and let his tax cuts continue to attract capital for the right reasons – the value the American workforce is capable of generating.
hina’s not going to implode over these tariffs. It will give Xi and his central bank the opportunity to devalue the yuan in response to the slower flow of dollars. It has to protect the lion’s share of its trade with Southeast Asia and Europe whose currencies are already in trouble.
And it will bail out the most strategically-sensitive banks and businesses over-exposed to them. It’s what they did last year in response to the 10% tariff and it is what will happen this time.
Lastly, however, is the part no one actually wants to discuss which is that China has to protect its trade with Southeast Asia and Europe. The Yuan didn’t devalue in a vacuum. The euro is down 13% from its high as are currencies like the Indonesian Rupiah, the Malaysian Ringgit and Thai Baht.
What Trump and his team are arguing for in trade negotiation is no different than what they’ve offered Iran and Lebanon, surrender your sovereignty or face punishment.
So, China reciprocates and cuts off US soybeans and other food exports. Now, a year later, Midwest banks are facing surging bankruptcies from farmers hit with the double whammy of no exports to China (who now buys them from Brazil) and massive flooding from an abnormally vicious winter and spring.
They have Trump to thank for this. He didn’t help them by not thinking through how we could be hurt by China’s reaction to his belligerence.
The same way Wisconsin dairy farmers are also going bankrupt thanks to the continued flood of cheap European dairy keeping wholesale milk prices low. Why is this happening? Russia countered European and American sanctions over Crimea with a ban on imports of European dairy.
Trump’s team would be fine with a trade deficit if China was still recycling that trade surplus into US Treasury bonds. They aren’t. The Chinese have held their stock of US debt between $1.1 and $1.25 trillion for two years now.
They are sending a lot of those dollars back out into the world to fund their massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). They are also using them to power swap arrangements with countries feeling the bite of Trump’s sanctions. Countries like Turkey, Pakistan and Iran, for example.
The next steps will be interesting. I expect Trump isn’t bluffing now about raising tariffs to 25%. I also expect that China will again stop all purchases of US oil like it did between November and March under the threat of sanctions due to buying Iranian oil while letting the Yuan fall sharply.
After that the real energy war starts as Russia completes Power of Siberia and begins pumping natural gas to China. And China directs its state oil companies to buy more oil from Iran while lowering its purchases from Saudi Arabia unless the Saudis accept Yuan for it."
Remarks: I am no economist, but China loans us money which funds our budget/economy. Sanctioning them is not a smart move when we are trillions of dollars in debt and can only make payments on the interest we owe them not the principal. What is the point to our trying to beat up China? To collapse our economy, so we can move to a one world currency, I sure hope not because the future after that is very bleak indeed.
[Edited on 5/14/2019 by gina]
CHINA's RESPONSE TO US SANCTIONS
China said on Monday it will impose tariffs on $60 billion worth of US goods from June 1, in apparent retaliation after Washington announced plans to tax almost all Chinese imports.
Beijing will hit a number of American imports with tariffs ranging from 5 percent to 25 percent, according to a statement by the Tariff Policy Commission of the State Council.
The announcement came after the latest round of trade negotiations to resolve disputes between the world’s top two economies ended Friday without a deal.
US President Donald Trump has increased tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent and ordered the start of a process to impose new duties on another $300 billion worth of items.
How It effects us.
"The escalation sent stock markets down, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing more than 600 points lower. China has raised tariffs on more than 5,000 US products, with the new rates ranging from 5% to 25%.
Items affected include beef, lamb and pork products, as well as various varieties of vegetables, fruit juice, cooking oil, tea and coffee.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48253002
REMARKS: Trump's answer to China was "“China should not retaliate-will only get worse!” the US president wrote in a series of tweets on trade." China funds our economy. I don't think this is a great strategy.
[Edited on 5/13/2019 by gina]
IRAN 5-14-19
5-14-19 Iran
The White House reportedly had a meeting with NSA Chief John Bolton, CIA Director Gina Haspel, Department of National Intelligence Director, Dan Coats, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Staff, General Joseph Dunford, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, at which several plans were discussed regarding Iran. War plans. The worst one was the US deploying 120,000 troops in response to IF Iran increases their uranium enrichment OR attacks US forces/allies. 1
Iran gave Europe 60 days to defy the US sanctions so that they can continue trading in Iranian oil.
Federica Mogherini, the European Union's diplomatic chief, stressed the need for dialogue following a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who made a last-minute visit to Brussels on Monday to share information on "escalating" threats from Iran. 2
Comment:
"Federica Mogherini, the European Union's diplomatic chief, After talks with the E3, Mogherini said they aimed to get INSTEX up and running and have the first transactions "hopefully in the next few weeks". That will be trading in currencies other than the US dollar to be able to buy oil from Iran.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, France's foreign minister, joined the criticism saying Washington's move to step up sanctions against Iran "does not suit us".
REMARKS: So the Europe rejects the US escalation plan(s) for Iran. Will Iran boost their enrichment of uranium and the US send 120,000 troops starting WW III? There are 60 days for this foreign policy problem to be solved.
France does not want to comply with our sanctions, neither does the UK, Germany or any other of our allied nations, as well as the other countries who need Iranian oil.
China does not support our sanctions against Iran, nor does Russia.
If we start this war, the only one cheering us on will be Saudi Arabia. Iran has considerable oil reserves, if other countries cannot get oil from them, then Saudi stands to profit if they have to get it from them. So who stands with us, Saudi and that is it.
UPDATE, Trump denies there is a plan to send 120,000 troops to Iran.
US President Donald Trump has rejected a New York Times report that American officials are preparing a military plan to deploy up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter any threat by Iran.
"I think it's fake news, OK? Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
[Edited on 5/14/2019 by gina]
PALESTINE AND SAUDI ARABIA
From 5-1-19
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas $10 billion if he accepts US President Donald Trump’s plan for peace in the Middle East, also known as the “deal of the century,” the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday.
Referring to meetings between the Saudi crown prince and Abbas, the newspaper said that “according to information obtained by Al-Akhbar, Salman briefed Abbas about the details of the deal of the century and asked him to accept it. According to the information, Salman asked Abbas: What is the annual budget of your entourage? Abbas replied: I’m not a prince to have my own entourage.”
At the stage, according to the newspaper, the Saudi crown prince asked Abbas “How much money does the Palestinian Authority and its ministers and employees need?”
Abbas replied that the Palestinians need $1 billion each year, the report said. “I will give you $10 billion over 10 years if you accept the deal of the century,” Salman was quoted as telling Abbas.
REMARKS: So Saudi Arabia is very interested in the Palestinian Authority accepting Trump's peace deal offer, which includes building a Jewish Temple on Temple Mount (Islamic religious prayer land), and they are okay with declaring Jerusalem as the new capital of Israel, rather than Tel Aviv, etc. etc. An Islamic country going along with furthering Judaism, most unusual.
HOUTHIS/SAUDI ARABIAN PIPELINE ATTACK
While many in the world including some in our govt. seem to ERRONEOUSLY believe that Iran attacked Saudi oil pipelines. THE DRONE WAS SENT BY HOUTHI REBELS IN YEMEN. Iran had nothing to do with it.
On Tuesday, the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for twin drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's main East-West oil pipeline, saying they were a response to "crimes" committed by Riyadh during the bloody air war it has led in Yemen since March 2015.
Saudi Arabia's deputy defence minister accused Iran on Thursday of ordering the drone attacks on two Aramco pumping stations as a "tool to implement its expansionist agenda in the region".
"The terrorist acts, ordered by the regime in Tehran, and carried out by the Houthis, are tightening the noose around the ongoing political efforts," Prince Khalid bin Salman said on Twitter.
The head of the Houthis' Supreme Revolutionary Committee denied that Iran directed the strike and said the movement manufactures its drones locally. Tehran also denies providing arms to the Houthis.
"We are not agents for anyone," Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said. "We make decisions independently and do not take orders for drones or anything else."
COMMENTS: The Houthis in Yemen are Shiites, as are most the Iranians. It is incorrect and wrong to conclude that Iran is sending weapons to the Houthis. The attack was done by an unarmed drone which had crashed in Yemen and the Houthis fixed and then sent back to Saudi. It flies under the radar and was undetected which is how it was able to strike them. There are those who want to believe that Iran is causing all kinds of trouble, but this is plainly just not so. They have said they will NOT go to war against the US. The US and Saudi seem hellbent on pushing them into a war. They are a sovereign country, they have abided by the United Nations Resolutions. The war mongering has to stop.
TERRIFYING PREDICTION FOR AUGUST
"On August 1, 2019, Mike Pence is forced to resign for misdeeds he allegedly participated in Indiana.
In a classic October surprise, Donald Trump is forcibly sequestered in the Oval office by a contingent dispatched by the Pentagon. The President’s family is fathered up and held prisoner at the Trump Towers. The President’s family is essentially held hostage but they are alive so long as what the President’s captors say. The cover story is that the President has taken ill as has many in Cabinet. The President “voluntarily submits to the 25th Amendment and resigns for “health reasons”. Meanwhile, a fake virus is sweeping America and the UN has already emerged under the Kigali Principles to take over the handling of this co-called epidemic which involves the unveiling of FEMA camps which are ostensibly being used as quarantine centers (ie detention centers).
Nancy Pelosi is sworn in as President and Hillary Clinton is appointed to be the Vice-President. It is the presumptive assumption that Hillary will become the President in 2020 as all campaigning at the Federal level is suspended in order to prevent Russian tampering with our elections.
Effectively, Trump is deposed and the country goes under medical martial law under the assistance an auspices of the United Nations."
REMARKS: This is by an esteemed aware person whose Father was an Officer in the CIA. He has military contacts, he has a radio show....I don't know if this is just ideas from old information or if it is new but we are almost to June, so I surely hope not.
[Edited on 5/16/2019 by gina]
More Unusual News - FELIX SATER/OSAMA BIN LADEN/RUSSIA/MOSCOW/TRUMP
Felix Sater, who became an FBI informant after pleading guilty in a 1998 fraud scheme, later helped drive talks for a potential Trump Tower Moscow.
By NATASHA BERTRAND 05/16/2019 06:30 PM EDT
A federal judge has confirmed for the first time that Felix Sater, a former Donald Trump business associate who drove Trump Tower Moscow negotiations during the 2016 election, helped the U.S. government track down Osama bin Laden.
During a hearing on Thursday in the Eastern District of New York — held as part of a lawsuit brought by First Look Media to unseal records related to Sater’s longtime cooperation with the government on various national security issues — Judge I. Leo Glasser said the media group already knew all of the “very interesting and dangerous things” Sater had done through his decade as an FBI informant.
“He cooperated,” Glasser said. “And you know what he did over the 10, 11 years, because you told me that you know. He provided the telephone number of Osama bin Laden. He has done an awful lot of very interesting and dangerous things.”
The detail is just another bizarre side plot that has emerged over the two-plus years that federal investigators, lawmakers and journalists have tried to uncover every detail about possible interactions between the Trump campaign and Russian intermediaries during the 2016 election. The probes have put spotlights on a cast of figures in Trump’s extended orbit, many of whom possess unusual backgrounds.
Sater was pulled into the public eye because of his role in trying to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. The deliberations have been of interest to investigators for two reasons. One, they occurred as the Kremlin was orchestrating an extensive campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. And two, Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen later lied to Congress about how deep into campaign season the negotiations lasted.
As congressional investigators turned their attention to Sater, he regularly promoted the work he did as an FBI informant, arguing it displayed his patriotism.
He said in written remarks to lawmakers that he “provided crucial intelligence information” about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida “before and after the 9/11 attacks.” He gave BuzzFeed more details — which the publication independently confirmed — saying that he obtained five of the personal satellite telephone numbers for bin Laden before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
On Thursday, the judge confirmed the bin Laden anecdote.
But Glasser seemed hesitant about revealing more about Sater’s classified work.
The Judge indicated that unsealing Sater’s 5k1 letter — which is a memo outlining the extent of a defendant’s cooperation, and to what extent that should be taken into consideration for sentencing — still risked disincentivizing other confidential informants from coming forward and cooperating with the government in the future.
The judge asked what else the public needed to know “that would affect these House of Representatives hearings and Mr. Trump?”
Sater had been planning to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in March, but his hearing was postponed after Attorney General Bill Barr released a summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s primary findings, marking the end of the probe.
Sater’s informant work stems from a 1998 case in which he pleaded guilty to participating in a $40 million stock fraud scheme orchestrated by the mafia in New York. Sater agreed to secretly collect information for the government, which described his cooperation as “extraordinary” in national security cases that have never been named or confirmed in open court before Thursday.
But despite Thursday's disclosure, most of the details of Sater’s cooperation with the government still remain officially secret.
Glasser noted that the interest in Sater’s case has “nothing to do with the criminal prosecution going back to 1998. Not a thing.”
Sater landed in the middle of the Russia investigation when emails he wrote to Cohen were published by the New York Times in 2017.
“I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected,” Sater wrote in a November 2015 email to Cohen, pitching him on a massive real-estate deal in Moscow and implying it could help Trump win the election. “Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it…I will get all of Putin’s team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”
Sater and Cohen have known each other for years, going back to Sater’s partnership with the Trump Organization on the construction of Trump SoHo in Manhattan. Bayrock, the real-estate development company that Sater co-founded, was accused in a lawsuit of being “substantially and covertly mob-owned and operated,” and engaging in “related crimes,” including money laundering and racketeering. Sater has long denied the allegations and settled the lawsuit in principle last year.
Sater also helped Trump scope out Russia deals in the early 2000s. He showed Ivanka Trump and her brother Donald Trump Jr. around Moscow in 2006 when their father was scouting real estate there.
Mueller’s team interviewed Sater about his emails to Cohen. Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann — the same prosecutor who supervised the 1998 stock fraud case against Sater — was part of the interview.
Sater, for his part, views the judge’s public acknowledgment of his help in the bin Laden case as proof of his loyalty to the United States and further evidence that he’s not working to advance the interests of his birth country, the former Soviet Union.
“I am proud and honored to have been able to help my country fight this terrorist and killer of Americans,” he told POLITICO.
REMARKS: Judge Leo Glasser adjudicated at John Gotti's trials. Now there is an alleged link between someone who had Osama's satellite phone numbers, Moscow and the Trump election? This is waaay beyond Twilight Zone stuff.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/16/felix-sater-osama-bin-laden-trump-number-1329662
[Edited on 5/17/2019 by gina]
Part 2
Gordon Duff and New Eastern Outlook, Moscow
First published 23 May 2018
Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. He is a disabled veteran and has worked on veterans and POW issues for decades. Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world's largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than "several" countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
On September 24, 2001, a dying Osama bin Laden released his last statement to the world. It is published below, the full CIA transcript with no redactions or editing. In this now declassified but heavily suppressed document, bin Laden describes the role of the Deep State in 9/11:
“President Bush or any other US President, they cannot bring Israel to justice for its human rights abuses or to hold it accountable for such crimes. What is this? Is it not that there exists a government within the government in the United States? That secret government must be asked as to who made the attacks.”
Bin Laden’s words – and we assert these are his last words – mean much more today than they did even while the ruins in New York and Washington were still smoldering. One might note that the “jet fuel” fires in New York burned for months, billions of BTU’s melting boots well into 2002.
Bin Laden will explain the world today and tell the truths that warned the world of what was to come. His words are riveting.
In March 2007, during an interview with Amy Goodman, former NATO commander, General Wesley Clark told of plans drafted by White House advisor and admitted architect of the Iraq War, Paul Wolfowitz, to invade 7 Middle Eastern nations including, not just Iraq, but Syria and Iran.
The election of Barack Obama may have offset their timetable, but in light of Clark’s revelation made 11 years ago and “buried”, and bin Laden’s transcript, published below, events today are able to be seen in a different and perhaps “Hitleresque” light.
From Salon, October 12, 2007:
“In A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country, published by Palgrave Macmillan last month, the former four-star general recalls two visits to the Pentagon following the terrorist attacks of September 2001. On the first visit, less than two weeks after Sept. 11, he writes, a “senior general” told him, “We’re going to attack Iraq. The decision has basically been made.”
Six weeks later, Clark returned to Washington to see the same general and inquired whether the plan to strike Iraq was still under consideration. The general’s response was stunning:
“‘Oh, it’s worse than that,’ he said, holding up a memo on his desk. ‘Here’s the paper from the Office of the Secretary of Defense [then Donald Rumsfeld] outlining the strategy. We’re going to take out seven countries in five years.’ And he named them, starting with Iraq and Syria and ending with Iran.”
While Clark doesn’t name the other four countries, he has mentioned in televised interviews that the hit list included Lebanon, Libya, Somalia and Sudan. Indeed, he has described this same conversation on a few occasions over the past year, including in a speech at the University of Alabama in October 2006, in an appearance on Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now” broadcast last March, and most recently in an interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.”
On “Democracy Now” he spoke about the meetings and the memo in slightly greater detail, saying that he had made the first Pentagon visit ‘on or about Sept. 20.’”
The Death that was not a Death
The world has never been told the truth about Osama bin Laden and 9/11. On December 11, 2001, the Pakistan Observer published an article announcing bin Laden’s death. They are generally a respected news source; and news agencies around the world, including Fox News and others in the US, reported the same.
Moreover, in 2009 I was given direct access to documents at the headquarters of Pakistan’s intelligence and information agencies, the ISPR and ISI, where I met with directors of both agencies.
We reviewed their files, along with other intelligence, and then had a roundtable discussion with their top analysts in a secure location in Rawalpindi.
They said bin Laden was dead, that they had captured and interrogated witnesses, as grim pictures raced through my mind, but they were clear.
Thus, when bin Laden showed up years later only to be “buried at sea” and his killers, a Navy SEAL team to suffer a catastrophic helicopter crash only days later, it became clear that the entire bin Laden story is a hoax.
Bin Laden was kept alive as a “deception and cover” operation by the intelligence agencies of the US, Britain and Israel in order to justify a broad war intended to reshape the world map.
The real architects of 911 saw how events, Sarajevo and Pearl Harbor could be used to create a world, not safe for democracy, but safe for banking, arms sales, and big oil.
On May 1, 2014, a Federal Judge in New York ordered the Islamic State of Iran to pay $6bn in damages to the victims of 9/11. The case against Iran is unclear, and the process for suing Iran is equally obscure. In doing so, however, a door has been opened.
Iran has decided to fight back, much as Russia has when accused of complicity in the use of deadly poison gas in both Britain and Syria.
In both cases, Iran’s and Russia’s, nations believe their sacred honor has been violated by charges so heinous, perhaps even ridiculous, that reality itself is strained.
In Russia’s case, they openly told the US that pushing such bizarre and unfounded accusations, much less using retaliatory force in response to “utter fiction,” violated all “unspoken rules of statecraft,” to paraphrase Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.
What neither Russia nor Syria and Iran know, is that the Federal gag orders imposed by a secret grand jury in Houston, Texas – a grand jury impaneled not to investigate 9/11, but to administer the coverup – are to expire this year.
Why This is Vital
Less than two weeks after 9/11, the only proven statement on 9/11 made by Osama bin Laden was intercepted by the CIA station in Doha, Qatar. The date was September 24, 2001.
Bin Laden had issued a statement, in Arabic, broadcast on an Al Jazeera channel, made to the people of Pakistan.
I mention Arabic while I add the fact that bin Laden, according to former White House Intelligence Advisor Lee Emil Wanta, spoke perfect English. I have spoken with Wanta on this several times, where he has outlined meetings with bin Laden in Peshawar, Pakistan, Ontario, California and in Washington DC, at the Metropolitan Club.
Those meetings began during the 1980s when bin Laden worked for the CIA supplying weapons to the Mujahedeen; and the last meetings were far later than anyone would guess, with Wanta alleging bin Laden was receiving medical care at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, while the US was searching for him in Sudan and elsewhere.
True or not, details on meetings, which include discussions that included Oliver North and General Secord among others, will be available as testimony at some point if Iran seeks to fight the US in an international court.
First, however, it is important to supply the first, last and only bin Laden statement. Once one reads this, it will become abundantly clear not only that bin Laden died in 2001 but that those who submitted all subsequent statements did so to obscure the truth.
Of note, all alleged bin Laden videos and audio recordings received after September 24, 2001 came from one source, an Israeli intelligence officer born in Iraq named Rita Katz. Her “organization” was called SITE Intelligence and it had only one purpose at that time, to deceive the world about bin Laden and lead investigators away from one obvious suspect, Israel.
The CIA memo, received by Veterans Today in 2010 through the Freedom of Information Act:
“CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY FOREIGN BROADCASTING INTERNATIONAL SERVICE:
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
WEBSITE OF DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC [FBIS REPORT] WEBSITE OF DOHA AL-JAZIRAH SATELLITE CHANNEL TELEVISION IN ARABIC,INDEPENDENT TELEVISION STATION FINANCED BY THE QATARI GOVERNMENT, WHICH CAN BE ACCESSEDAT URL: HTTP://WWW.ALJAZEERA.NET, CARRIES AT 2011 GMT ON 24 SEPTEMBER THE TEXT OF THE FOLLOWING LETTER BY USAMA BIN LADIN “TO THE PAKISTANI PEOPLE.”
“We hope that these brothers would be the first martyrs in Islam’s battle in this age against the new Jewish crusade that is being led by the biggest crusader, Bush, under the banner of the cross. This battle is one of Islam’s immortal battles.”
“We beseech God to grant him victory against the forces of infidelity and arrogance, and to crush the new crusader-Jewish campaign on the land of Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
“I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States.”
“Neither I had any knowledge of these attacks nor I consider the killing of innocent women, children, and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children, and other people. Such a practice is forbidden ever in the course of a battle.”
“All that is going on in
Palestine for the last 11 months is sufficient to call the wrath of God upon the United States and Israel.”
“Whoever committed the act of 11 September are not the friends of the American people. I have already said that we are against the American system, not against its people, whereas in these attacks, the common American people have been killed. According to my information, the death toll is much higher than what the US Government has stated.
“The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself; the people who are a part of the US system, but are dissenting against it. Or those who are working for some other system; persons who want to make the present century as a century of conflict between Islam and Christianity so that their own civilization, nation, country, or ideology could survive.”
“They can be any one, from Russia to Israel and from India to Serbia.”
“Then you cannot forget the American Jews, who are annoyed with President Bush ever since the elections in Florida and want to avenge him.”
“Then there are intelligence agencies in the US, which require billions of dollars worth of funds from the Congress and the government every year. This [funding issue] was not a big problem till the existence of the former Soviet Union but after that the budget of these (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 180) agencies has been in danger. They needed an enemy. So, they first started propaganda against Usama and Taliban and then this incident happened.”
“Drug smugglers from all over the world are in contact with the US secret agencies. These agencies do not want to eradicate narcotics cultivation and trafficking because their importance will be diminished. The people in the US Drug Enforcement Department are encouraging drug trade so that they could show performance and get millions of dollars worth of budget. General Noriega was made a drug baron by the CIA and, in need, he was made a scapegoat.”
“President Bush or any other US President, they cannot bring Israel to justice for its human rights abuses or to hold it accountable for such crimes. What is this? Is it not that there exists a government within the government in the United States? That secret government must be asked as to who made the attacks.”
“Supporting the US act is the need of some Muslim countries and the compulsion of others. However, they should think as to what will remain of their religious and moral position if they support the attack of the Christians and the Jews on a Muslim country like Afghanistan.”
“I have already said that we are not hostile to the United States. We are against the system, which makes other nations slaves of the United States, or forces them to mortgage their political and economic freedom.”
“This system is totally in control of the American Jews, whose first priority is Israel, not the United States. It is simply that the American people are themselves the slaves of the Jews and are forced to live according to the principles and laws laid by them. So, the punishment should reach Israel.”
“The Western media is unleashing such a baseless propaganda, which make us surprise but it reflects on what is in their hearts and gradually they themselves become captive of this propaganda. They become afraid of it and begin to cause harm to themselves.”
“Terror is the most dreaded weapon in modern age and the Western media is mercilessly using it against its own people. It can add fear and helplessness in the psyche of the people of Europe and the United States. It means that what the enemies of the United States cannot do, its media is doing that. You can understand as to what will be the performance of the nation in a war, which suffers from fear and helplessness.”
The world long ago accepted that the Iraq invasion of 2003 was an illegal act of aggression and that both Bush and Blair, in a “perfect world,” should be hanged as war criminals.
As noted from proof provided here, bin Laden never admitted complicity in 9/11, though audio tapes provided time and time again by Israeli intelligence asserted as much.
Were those tapes an admission by Israel, if seen in light of what we know of “fake news” today, of their role in 9/11?
Was 9/11 staged to bring down, as General Clark may well be asserting, a way of pushing forward a master plan to take down Iraq, Syria, Iran and four other nations?
Has America, now that Israeli policy and neocon politics are predominant, moved back to the same direction, to conquest of Israel’s neighbors?
How do bin Laden’s words play so long after what we assert was the date of his real death?
In light of his September 24, 2001 statement, is it perhaps obvious why a fake bin Laden, vilified by the equally fake media, was needed to push the wars that never seem to end?
REMARKS: If part of the Deep State wants to try to connect Cohen, Trump to someone who said he could get Putin to support Trump before the elections, it is probably just another ploy of the new world/now they call it the international world order - same people, same goal.
[Edited on 5/17/2019 by gina]
Still don't know what went on? The CIA provided weapons, our govt. provided money to other groups thru whom Osama and Al Qaida received it. Hundreds of millions of dollars, Steve Coll reports. At some point he no longer wanted to work for the US, even in a covert, clandestine way, and it is at that point they decided to destroy him, his image. 9-11-01 was the event to do that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_assistance_to_Osama_bin_Laden
This is absolutely chilling. The contemplation of an EMP World War. They have been doing scenarios on this.
Page 56
Evidence is substantial that Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran are tacit allies. Russia and
China conduct military exercises together, support each other at the UN, and typically have a united front on most international issues. China's new and growing military power is largely built
on Russian technology. Russia and China have both helped North Korea and Iran's nuclear and
missile programs, and often protect them from sanctions at the UN.
102
Is it a coincidence that all four of these powers are now embarked on major acts of aggression in
Europe, Asia, and the Middle East that challenge international law and the existing world
order—simultaneously?
An EMP World War might unfold by sequencing the already described theater EMP scenarios as
follows:
Iran Strikes Israel comes first, while Russia, China, and North Korea wait for U.S. forces
to concentrate in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. military is now so diminished by cuts in
budget, material, and manpower that it can no longer fight more than one big theater war.
After perhaps a week, when U.S. forces and crucial C3I assets are committed and en
route to the Middle East, simultaneously or in rapid succession:
North Korea Strikes South Korea and Japan
China Strikes Taiwan
Russia Strikes European NATO
Finally, if necessary:
North Korea Strikes the United States
Russia Strikes the United States
This sequencing of EMP attacks would maximally exploit the U.S. "hollow" military. Where the
U.S. is no longer able to support major military operations in more than one theater, the proposed
plan would confront the U.S. nearly simultaneously with an EMP World War in four theaters—
in five theaters if the U.S. itself is attacked.103
EMP is essentially an anti-technology weapon—and perhaps the perfect "silver bullet" to defeat
and humble the high-tech military of the United States that is the basis for its claim to be "the
world's only superpower."
REMARKS: The weapons that highly industrialized nations have these days are so dramatic, no war should even be considered. How can rational people contemplate sending other countries back to the stone age to subdue them, murder millions or hundreds of millions of people?
There were scenarios done a long time ago about war in the middle east, just using nukes, no emps.
In one 26 million people in Iran were obliterated in ONE day.
From the Center for Strategic and International Studies - Anthony Cordesman, Chair
5-17-19 (it is 5-17-19 over THERE)
Iran tells Iraqi militias to prepare for proxy war
he commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, has recently met Tehran-backed Iraqi militias in Baghdad and told them to “prepare for proxy war,” the Guardian reported.
Two senior intelligence sources said that Soleimani summoned the militias three weeks ago amid a heightened state of tension in the region.
While Soleimani has met regularly with leaders of Iraq’s Shiite groups over the past five years, the nature and tone of this gathering was different. “It wasn’t quite a call to arms, but it wasn’t far off,” one source said.
Leaders of all the militia groups that fall under the umbrella of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were in attendance at the meeting called by Soleimani, the intelligence sources told the Guardian.
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1726856/iran-tells-iraq-militias-prepare-proxy-war
On Thursday Maj Gen Hossein Salami, commander of the Revolutionary Guards and the country’s overall military leader, said the two countries were on the verge of a full-scale confrontation. “This is the most decisive moment for the Islamic revolution because the enemy has come to the battlefield with all of its capacities at its disposal,” he told a meeting of subordinates.
On Thursday Saudi state media called for “surgical strikes” against Iranian targets in response to the attack on the oil tankers. One intelligence official who spoke to the Guardian said the Saudis had specifically asked Washington whether it would act to defend their interests.
REMARKS: Will the Saudis push us into the war with Iran which will decimate our economy via the HUGE increase in oil prices which will cause prices on everything to rise, businesses to fail, [everything that comes here comes by boat, plane, train, they all need fuel] and ultimately make us into a third world country? This should not happen.
[Edited on 5/17/2019 by gina]
Trump awaiting response from Iran they have not called him.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1498471/middle-east
Well maybe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would talk to Trump. Here is his twitter.
https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956
A senior Iranian legislator has called for the United States and Iran to hold talks in Iraq or Qatar to defuse tensions amid a US military build-up in the Gulf. Hashmatullah Falahat Pishe, head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, urged negotiations on Friday, citing attempts by "third-parties" to provoke a conflict despite senior officials in Tehran and Washington rejecting war.
"There must be a table in Iraq or Qatar where the two sides can meet in order to end this tension," the independent legislator said in a post on Twitter.
IRAN/CHINA/RUSSIA
Iran calls for Concrete action to save nuclear deal.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has urged "friends", including China and Russia, to take "concrete action" to safeguard the 2015 nuclear deal following the United States's decision to tighten sanctions on Tehran after exiting the agreement last year.
During a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Friday, Zarif said: "Iran and China need to think together and work together about preserving a multilateral global order and avoiding a unilateral global order."
Zarif's meeting with State Councillor Wang Yi was part of an intense diplomatic effort to salvage the 2015 deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
REMARKS: Iran does not want war, they want their own sovereignty, which as a nation they are entitled to have. They want to save their trade deals with Russia and China, and the European nations. If we and Saudi start a war with them, there will be no NATO allies to back us up. We will get nuked and cease to exist as a country. Sure maybe Iran cannot destroy us, but Russia and China can, and the whole world has denounced what we are doing to Iran.
[Edited on 5/17/2019 by gina]
US/CONGRESS/SAUDI ARABIA
Trump has bypassed Congress to complete a big arms deal to Saudi Arabia. He is able to this because he declared a state of National Emergency, that gives him the legal right to do this.
"US arms control law allows Congress to reject weapons sales to foreign countries but an exemption in the law allows the president to waive the need for congressional approval by declaring a national security emergency."
"Members of Congress had been blocking sales of offensive military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE for months, US President Donald Trump, declaring a national emergency because of tensions with Iran, swept aside objections from Congress on Friday to complete the sale of over $8bn worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan."
"These sales will support our allies, enhance Middle East stability, and help these nations to deter and defend themselves from the Islamic Republic of Iran," Pompeo said in a statement, adding the decision to circumvent Congress was meant to be a "one-time event".
REMARKS: Well if we sell these arms to Saudi and other nations and they use them against Iran, the US can say that "we" did not start any war, because somebody else launches the stuff from their land. Dangerous precedent.
IRAN - no surrender
They seem to know they are going to get attacked. Yet their answer is they will not give up or surrender.
"President Hassan Rouhani says the Islamic Republic will not surrender and stop defending its independence even if it is bombed and its men are killed, wounded, and captured.
"Iran won't give up [pursuing] the goal of maintaining its independence and dignity even if it is bombarded and its men are martyred, wounded, and captured," Rouhani said.
"I explicitly declare that the Iranian nation will defeat the US, the Israeli regime, and the regional reactionaries through resistance and unity," the Iranian president said.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/05/23/596731/Iran-US-bombardment-war-clash-persian-gulf-rouhani
REMARKS: They are a sovereign nation. They are aligned with Turkey and Qatar. It will be very sad when the war does come, it will just be slaughtering people who never wanted a fight in the first place. Oman is also trying to help out.
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/oman/oman-working-to-ease-us-iran-tension-1.64157825
[Edited on 5/24/2019 by gina]
MARK CUBAN'S IDEA ON HOW TO DEAL WITH CHINA
He thinks that the sanctions hurt not just China but people here also. He has another idea.
“I'd shut down all Chinese IPOs—that's the first step,” “A trading halt would certainly create a lot of disruption for those Chinese companies,” adds Cuban, who’s considering an independent run for president in 2020.
As of February, 156 Chinese companies were listed on major U.S. stock exchanges with a total market capitalization of $1.2 trillion, according to the U.S.-China Economic Security and Review Commission, a group tasked by Congress to monitor the trade relationship between the two countries.
As of this month, 12 Asia-Pacific companies have listed on the Nasdaq so far this year, raising a total of $777 million at their initial offerings, CNBC reported. The Beijing-based coffee chain Luckin Coffee, seeking to overtake Starbucks, made its public initial offering on the Nasdaq last week. Douyu, a Chinese live-streaming platform, is expected to go public in the U.S. this year.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mark-cuban-china-trade-war-trump-130539755.html
REMARKS: Get their stock offerrings off our exchanges. Hmmmm.
PALESTINE DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS IN BAHRAIN JUNE 25 AND 26
There is a summit in Bahrain in June, the purpose is to discuss with investors from other countries how Gaza and the West Bank "are investible".
The al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, has described the US “deal of the century” as a plan to sell Jerusalem al-Quds and Palestine, slamming it as “high treason,” the Arabic-language Lualua television network reported.
Mahmoud Abbas, of the Palestinian Authority has said that any deal that does not provide a two state solution, and recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state will not work for them and they were not invited to the workshops.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/05/20/596415/Palestinians-US-led-Bahrain-conference
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/5/20/bahrain-convenes-summit-to-sell-deal-of-the-century
Several weeks ago Kushner met a group of 25 business executives at the Milken Conference in Los Angeles to get them onboard.
REMARKS: Muslims are very worried about this. They do not believe that having Jewish and Saudi etc. investors involved in a plan for the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem is going to help them. They look at the vast difference in the quality of life conditions between Israel and their Muslim counterparts in these regions. If Israel wanted to help them so much, why are they living so badly? When you want to raise people up, you extend a hand, not seize and bulldoze their land to make new expensive developments for Jewish people.
Meanwhile this is what Jared Kushner said about the vision for Palestine.
"Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, thanked Bahrain on Sunday for hosting the workshop. “We look forward to engaging with business and thought leaders from throughout the region and the world to build consensus around the best steps the international community can take to develop the foundation for a prosperous future,” he said in a statement.
“The Palestinian people, along with all people in the Middle East, deserve a future with dignity and the opportunity to better their lives. Economic progress can only be achieved with a solid economic vision, and if the core political issues are resolved. We look forward to presenting our vision on ways to bridge the core political issues very soon,” Kushner added.
FURTHER REMARKS: If they do bring peace and prosperity to the Palestinian people what will be quite an accomplishment. We shall see.
Iran Shooting Down US Drone
The US drone was in Iranian airspace.
"At 00:14 US drone took off from UAE in stealth mode & violated Iranian airspace. It was targeted at 04:05 at the coordinates (25°59'43"N 57°02'25"E) near Kouh-e Mobarak.
We've retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down."
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corpse (IRGC) shot down a US surveillance drone Thursday in the Strait of Hormuz after it did not heed four warning signals, even as the force spared a second spy plane carrying 35 passengers which accompanied the downed aircraft.
IRAN GOING TO THE UNITED NATIONS REGARDING US ENCROACHMENT OVER THEIR TERRITORY
VIDEO:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/USdroneShotDown?src ="hash"
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/06/22/599155/Iran-FM-Zarif-US-drone-territorial-waters-map
Remarks: There are those who want war against Iran, including a top Saudi leader who said Iran would be levelled, bottom line is, if Trump allows the war with Iran to start, many people who voted for him last time will not do it again, because nobody wants to be in another war. In addition to that, Hezbollah has been very clear, if Iran is attacked, they will let loose their missiles on Israel. This will not make any path to peace in that country.
[Edited on 6/22/2019 by gina]
IRAN
While we all want to believe things are just as we have been told, the Iranian regime has refuted and proven things are not, but it gets a lot worse than that.
"A US and Saudi Arabia-backed anti-Iran terrorist group, which is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent Iranian civilians and officials, has announced a plan to assassinate a senior Iranian military commander and the country’s new Judiciary chief.
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) informed its members about the plan through a recent internal communiqué.
It specified the targets as Major General Qassem Soleimani, who commands the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Ebrahim Raeisi, who was appointed as the country’s top judicial official by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei earlier this year.
The terrorist organization said it would “welcome” their assassination, adding that it desired for the ranking officials to “join” Asadollah Lajevardi, Tehran’s former chief prosecutor, and Ali Sayyad-Shirazi, a former commander of the Iranian Army’s Ground Forces during Iraq’s 1980-88 war against Iran.
Lajevardi and Sayyad-Shirazi, both prominent figures in the country’s struggle against campaigns led by the United States and its allies following the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, were assassinated by the MKO terrorists respectively in 1998 and 1999.
Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist assaults since the Revolution’s victory, about 12,000 have fallen victim to the MKO’s acts of terror.
The group throws lavish conferences every year in Paris, with certain American, Western, and Saudi officials as its guests of honor. These include US National Security Advisor John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, and former Saudi Arabian spy chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal.
This comes as Western countries, topped by the US, have taken the group out of their terror blacklists, while frequently accusing Iran of conducting terrorist attacks against regional countries.
In the latest instance of their accusations, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, echoing Trump, accused Iran of being behind a recent attack on two tankers in the Sea of Oman.
Now just who exactly is the Mujahedin-e-Khalq?
US Secretary of State John Kerry used a visit to Albania on February 14, 2016 to thank the government for resettling members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedin e Khalq, or MEK. Over the previous two years, Albania had taken in about 1,000 members of the MEK and had committed to resettling an additional 2,000, said a senior State Department official. Most lived in US-backed camps in Iraq. The US assistance included a donation of $20 million to the UN refugee agency to help resettle the MEK, said the State Department official. The US also provided Albania with security and economic development assistance, to help the country build up its physical capacity to house the refugees.
The United States, which listed National Council of Resistance of Iran as a terrorist organization, closed the NCRI's Washington office in 2003. The fall of Saddam Hussein's regime affected the circumstances of the designated foreign terrorist organization Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The MEK was allied with the Iraqi regime and received most of its support from it. The MEK assisted the Hussein regime in suppressing opposition within Iraq, and performed internal security for the Iraqi regime. The National Liberation Army was the military wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
A former high-ranking MEK official confirmed long-held suspicions that Saudi Arabia has been financing the political-militant group bent on violent regime change in Iran through sophisticated channels to provide the group with valuables like gold and Rolex watches, according to a new report. In an interview with Jordanian news outlet Al-Bawaba 19 Deptember 2018, a former MEK member who oversaw the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of materials explained how the group has stayed financially afloat.
Massoud Khodabandeh explained that 3 tons of solid gold, a minimum of four suitcases of customized Rolex watches and fabric that had been used to cover the Muslim holy site of Kaaba in Mecca were among the commodities shipped from Saudi Arabia to MEK operatives in Baghdad as part of the scheme. From there, the valuables would be sold on the black market in Jordan's capital, Amman, to Saudi-aligned merchants.
The MEK has a history that does go back to the time of the Shah in the 1970s. It was a group that propounded an ideology that mixed Islamism and Marxism. And, among their earliest operations were lethal operations against US personnel, including US military personnel, in Iran. In the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the MEK backed Ayatollah Khomeini and the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. By 1981, however, the MEK split with the cleric-based regime, launching a bombing campaign that killed Iran's president and prime minister. Then, its leadership fled to Europe.
The MEK sided with Iraq in its 1980-1988 war with Iran. In 1986, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein set up an enclave called Camp Ashraf for the group north of Baghdad. In 1991, MEK forces allegedly assisted Saddam in putting down uprisings by the Kurds in Iraq's north, and the Shi'ites in the south. Then, in April 1992, the MEK attacked Iranian embassies and facilities in 13 countries. In 1997, a new U.S. law put the MEK and 29 other groups on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list. Britain and the European Union also put the MEK on terrorist lists.
It was reported on 21 September 2012, that the US State Department was preparing to remove the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization from the list of organizations recognized as terrorist groups by the United States. On 28 September 2012, the US State Department formally announced that it had delisted the organization as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224.
Some officials from the Trump administration have received money from the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to deliver speeches in support of the group. Trump’s transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, received $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the MKO. In March 2016, Chao received another $17,500 for a speech that she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which reportedly has ties with the MKO terrorist group. Chao is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Former mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani, who is also likely to get a post in the Trump administration, has also acknowledged that he has been paid by the MKO for his appearances at the terrorist group’s events.
DELIVER SPEECHES IN SUPPORT OF THE GROUP.
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/mek.htm
The group has hosted Bolton?
Controversial Mujahedeen-e-Khalq has hosted John Bolton at previous events, counts Giuliani as a supporter; over 1,000 members protest against Tehran’s theocratic government. Clad in yellow vests emblazoned with the words “Free Iran,” more than 1,000 members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq gathered outside the State Department to demand an end to Iran’s theocratic government.
YELLOW VESTS PROTESTERS - JUST LIKE IN FRANCE, HMMMM.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mek-lobbying_n_913233
Onstage next to former FBI director Louis Freeh sat Ed Rendell, the former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania and current MSNBC talking head; former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean; former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton; former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo West; former State Department Director of Policy Planning Mitchell Reiss; former Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway; Anita McBride, the former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush; and Sarah Sewall, a Harvard professor who sits on a corporate board with Reiss.
All told, at least 33 high-ranking former U.S. officials have given speeches to MEK-friendly audiences since December of last year as part of more than 22 events in Washington, Brussels, London, Paris and Berlin. While not every speaker accepted payment, MEK-affiliated groups have spent millions of dollars on speaking fees, according to interviews with the former officials, organizers and attendees.
Rendell freely admits he knew little about the group, also known as People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), before he was invited to speak just days earlier. But he told the audience that the elite status of his fellow panelists and the arguments they made for delisting the group were enough to convince him that it was a good idea.
The speakers are just the type of national-security heavyweights a plaintiff terrorist organization needs. In addition to those named above, the commissioned figureheads include Obama’s recently-departed National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones; former Bush Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge; onetime State Department Counselor Philip Zelikow and former CIA directors Porter Goss and James R. Woolsey.
PORTER GOSS!
Retired military officers are popular — former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley K. Clark and former Commander in Chief of United States Central Command Gen. Anthony Zinni have both addressed MEK groups. Yet more speakers appear to have been chosen for their deep political ties, such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former New Mexico Gov. and U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson, former Bush White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, former Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and former 9/11 Commission Chairman Lee Hamilton.
Hamilton acknowledged to IPS News that he was paid for his appearances, describing his fee at the time as “significant.” Dean also acknowledged that he was paid for at least a portion of the speeches he gave to MEK groups in London, Paris and Washington, as did Gen. Clark. Gen. Jones told The Wall Street Journal that he received a “standard speaking fee.” Gen. Zinni’s speaker agent confirmed that Zinni was also paid his “standard speaking fee” for an eight-minute address at an MEK-related conference in January — between $20,000 and $30,000, according to his speaker profile. The same firm arranged for Zelikow to speak at two MEK-affiliated events this spring, and it recruited John Sano, the former deputy director of the National Clandestine Service, for his first MEK-related appearance on July 26.
Goss’s first speech to an MEK support group was in April. He told The Huffington Post that it had been handled entirely by his speaker agent and that his payment came from his agent. According to his profile, Goss commands a minimum of $20,000 to $30,000 per engagement.
REMARKS: The resistance groups all over are complex with complex ideologies. One day they are regarded as terrorists then later they are regarded as freedom fighters (ie. Sandanistas in Nicaragua). There was a time Al Qaeda was in good standing with the US, when they were fighting to defeat the Russian incursion in Afghanistan; then once the Russians were gone, it was the old 'if we can't use you, we kill you' theme that our intelligence community uses on people or groups who are no longer in good standing with them.
The US cannot solve problems of other countries. We should stop supporting, funding (covertly or not) insurgent groups to do the political bidding of the world's elite. Recognize each nation has its own sovereignty and let them solve their own problems, run their own countries. If the US wants to fund groups to take down the current Iranian regime, chaos will ensue, the difference this time is there will NOT be order out of chaos. Order will not be restored without a 7 year war with Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Russia and other countries. I just recently read that the Houthis in Yemen are starting to torch the Saudi oil fields. This is one of the end times prophecies, eventually the fires in the oil fields in Saudi will be be so bad people even from Yemen will have to migrate to Syria (al Sham) because of the smoke. WWIII will come sooner than anyone thinks if nations do not start respecting the sovereignty of other lands. I read that Saudi is sending $60 million a year into the coffers of the Haqqani's in Afghanistan. Yet we send young men to go fight a war that will not be won there. What if we acted like China and just stopped waging war?
[Edited on 6/27/2019 by gina]
AFGHANISTAN
Are there other things going on besides the difficulties with Iran? Of course, the Taliban reported that US choppers picked up Isis commanders during one of the battles with the Talibs last Friday in Afghanistan. Apparently someone wanted to save the Isis commanders.
There will be another peace conference in Doha July 6, 7, but it is anything but peaceful in Afghanistan. The war against the Taliban wages on fighting everywhere. They actually have SIX rounds of talks starting Saturday June 29th.
NATO Secretary General is optimistic.
""We are closer to a pace deal now than we have ever been before in Afghanistan," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday. Stoltenberg, who was addressing reporters ahead of NATO’s defense ministerial meeting in Brussels, reiterated the alliance’s commitment to support peace efforts.
I am hopeful that this time there are some breakthroughs so that the way is opened for intra-Afghan talks which are the key issue,” said Haji Din Mohammad, deputy head of the High Peace Council.
“We hope that these talks lead to the start of intra-Afghan talks so that peace and stability can prevail in Afghanistan through political dialogue,” said Omid Maisam, deputy spokesman to Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. "
“The important issue is that if the Americans exit, this exit will be a responsible withdrawal. A possible agreement between the Taliban and them (American side) will also determine a timeframe for this exist,” said Mawlavi Qalamuddin, a former Taliban commander who served as head of the regime’s religious police chief when the group was in power.
G20 Summit Japan
G20 Summit - Yes Trump went. It is being held in Japan.
Angela Merkel has been seen having tremors.
"BERLIN (AA): German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday was seen shaking for the second time in nine days. At a ceremony in Berlin, when Merkel’s whole body started to shake, she folded her arms in an apparent attempt to stop the motion, but it continued. She was offered a glass of water but declined it. A similar incident took place last week when she was receiving Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. Merkel had cited dehydration as being behind the incident, but it led to German media questioning her health. "
Nevertheless, she is going to the Summit. Germany by the way is also intervening and trying to help the Afghan Peace Process and has representatives who will attend the Peace Summit in Qatar.
AFGHANISTAN - Yes there has been a warning to media outlets that are hostile to the Taliban. This is what they have said.
Taliban Warning to Hostile Media Outlets
"Warning by Military Commission of Islamic
Emirate to Hostile Media Outlets
It has been observed that some media outlets in Kabul and surrounding provinces are broadcasting messages under commercial advertisement that denounce the ongoing Jihad, Mujahideen and Taliban, encourage opposition, are financed by Kabul administration security departments and an all out effort is exerted to use these media outlets as intelligence tools against the ongoing Jihad, to brainwash common Afghans and carry out direct espionage activities for the enemy.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Commission for Military Affairs sternly warns all TV, radio and other broadcast channels to immediately halt their hostile activities.
If every local and national FM radios, TV channels and other media outlets do not cease such activities within a one week period then the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate will not consider these outlets as media channels but as enemy intelligence nerve centers. They shall become military targets for the Mujahideen in the capital, provinces, cities and rural areas and none of their offices, journalists, workers and personnel shall retain any immunity. "
Commission for Military Affairs of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
REMARKS: Firstly, they are not fans of FAKE NEWS anymore than anyone in this country, but it goes deeper than that with them.
"Taliban says the media should focus on “Islamic and moral values.”
These “Islamic and moral values” are defined as “humility, shyness, patience, sacrifice, respect for elders, virtuous behavior towards children, good character, valuing time, human respect, attending the patient, moderation, loyalty, brotherhood, civil union, sympathetic attitude toward each other, aiding the poor, preventing oppression and cruelty, assisting and helping the oppressed and the like.”
“The media has to fulfill its responsibility of educating its followers in a positive way, and not to promote and publicize evil deeds in the society,” the Taliban wrote.
The Taliban derided the broadcasting of “the vulgar, indecency and Indian movies” and the “imposition of an alien and secular culture over our people.”
The Taliban concluded: “Media lies to the people, frightens them with fascinating titles and propaganda, and promotes prostitution, indecency and profanity. Instead of stabilization, it endorses negative roles and adopts unlawful ways to impose western culture over the Afghan people.”
This was their full statement earlier in the year regarding the media.
"Currently, media has become a successful tool in defense of religious and moral values. It is an effective source of inspecting every country and society, and its contribution in playing a conventional role in shaping a stable and strong society is transparent and crystal clear.
The countries of the world – where moral values are being neglected – have confronted such chaos and moral disabilities that leaves no way of getting out of it for the affected countries. Our beloved country (Afghanistan) – after the American invasion – has also encountered repetitive and irreversible damages by the so-called independent media in religious and moral perspectives, which are increasing on a daily basis.
In contrast to the numerous Western media, there exist only few patriotic and Islamic media outlets in our country, which have few resources to stand against the intellectual and cultural invasions by deviant and corrupt media.
What is the importance of Religious and Moral Values?
Importance of values:
Religious or moral values are the guarantors of decency, justice and social success of any society. What we mean by values is actions, deeds that are considered as religion, law, and etiquettes in a society, and being regarded as great ideal in the social environment. In other terms, values consist of all those good actions and rites that are highly valued and respected, where people dignify and regard them and uphold them in their lives to improve and advance.
Religious values are; Worship, prayer, fasting, Zakat (alms-giving), Hajj (pilgrimage), recitation of the Holy Qur’an, the remembrance of Allah and so on…
What are Islamic and moral values?
Islamic and moral values are: Humility, shyness, patience, sacrifice, respect for elders, virtuous behavior towards
children, good character, valuing time, human respect, attending the patient, moderation, loyalty, brotherhood, civil union, sympathetic attitude toward each other, aiding the poor, preventing oppression and cruelty, assisting and helping the oppressed and the like… those who are called Islamic and moral values. The media owners and authors are obliged to take the above mentioned values under consideration, meaning: to use
their responsibilities and contributions – as being a part of media in any way – for awareness of people, in one way or the other; to stick to those values and not to violate them in their daily, weekly, monthly and timely publications at any cost.
Every media person should be aware of their religious, moral and national responsibilities, be cautious and sensitive about those responsibilities, and should be proud of them. If a Muslim does not take pride in his cultural, civilizational and moral values and propagate these values of others, this will lead him to very unfortunate consequences.
It is usually said that media represents whatever goes on in a society, which means that media actually portrays society. But that is not true, the fact is that besides portraying society, it also takes ownership of the intellectual leadership of the society, people of society hear and accept according to what media shows them. So the media has to fulfill its responsibility of educating its followers in a positive way, and not to promote and publicize evil deeds in the society.
Experts say that media carries both positive and negative aspects that can play a part in advertising good as well as bad. It can give strength, determination, and tendency of doing better to a society, can give social, military and cultural supremacy, political and national consciousness, can raise its voice for the truth and harmony, but on the other hand, by publishing false rumors, it can also suspect itself and its beliefs, can raise its voice for hypocrisy and dissension.
This is why the ‘media’ outlets that do not work for aliens and its workers are not employed as laborers, must raise their voice against invasion, bring unity and harmony among the people of society, explain national and religious responsibilities of the Afghan people, fulfill their responsibilities of bringing success and happiness so that a uncontaminated, strong and vibrant community can be created throughout the world. For this purpose, it is important to decide what sort of changes must be brought to society? And which direction the new generation needs to be pushed? And upon which idea the new generation needs to be trained? And what are the messages that need to be convey to the people?
Today the vulgar, indecency and Indian movies being screened on televisions in Kabul, Jalalabad, and Balkh do not represent our religious and national attitude, in fact it is an imposition of an alien and secular culture over our people. Are we in any need of such obscene broadcasting? Or are we in need of scientists, doctors, engineers, scholars, poets, and Mujahedeen? Do we require fruitful entertainment or such disillusions in the name of Art?
The fact is that whatever is being conducted in the name of media these days in the Islamic states especially in our beloved country, is highly harmful leading to very negative and destructive consequences. Media lies to the people, frightens them with fascinating titles and propaganda, and promotes prostitution, indecency and profanity. Instead of stabilization, it endorses negative roles and adopts unlawful ways to impose western culture over the Afghan people. "
MY COMMENTS: The international media has been very hostile to the Taliban promoting a narrative that depicts them in ways that they are not. Why does the international media do this? Because if people KNEW what they were really like, they would not support the war in Afghanistan. They are God fearing, moral people. Yet all you will probably hear in mainstream media news is that they are threatening the media.
[Edited on 6/27/2019 by gina]
Interview (from June) with Ilhan Omar
We will be sending troops to Saudi Arabia to help protect them from Iran.
HAMAS ISSUES WARNING TO ISRAEL
A Hamas leader of the Palestinians warned Israel on Friday that if it does not lift its “siege” on the Gaza Strip before a week is up, he will incite millions of eagerly awaiting Palestinians around the globe to slaughter every last Jew on Earth. Hamas leader Fathi Hammad, who leads the Islamic terrorist organization’s political bureau, has 7 million militant Palestinians at his beckon call who have been trained to attack Jews.
"Hammad declared his threatening announcement during his speech as a Marh of Return rally that was broadcasted on Al-Aqsa TV, giving Israel until July 19 to meet his demand or suffer the consequences.
"We say to the Zionist enemy that it has exactly one week – until next Friday,” Hammad proclaimed, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “If it does not lift the siege by then, and if it does not implement the understandings [with Hamas]... We have many methods and means up our sleeves, and they are just waiting for the green light to powerfully explode in the face of the enemy, Allah willing.”
“They think that we are rational people. Well, we aren't,” Hammad insisted. “The people of Gaza are not rational. For 70 years in Gaza, the Zionist enemy tried to change our genes. [Our genes] have not changed. On the contrary, they have progressed even more, and they are ready to blow up in the face of the enemies, Allah willing.”
“You have one week, oh Zionist enemy!” the militant Muslim leader exclaimed. “If you do not lift the siege... Well, we will not die standing [idly by]. We will not die of starvation. If we die, it will be while we are killing you and cutting off your heads, Allah willing.”
"If you don't lift the siege, we will explode in the faces of our enemies, Allah willing, and the explosion won't just be in Gaza – it will also be in the West Bank and abroad, Allah willing,” the Palestinian aggressor added. “Our brothers abroad are still preparing. They are warming up... They have been warming up for a year and a half... Oh, you 7 million Palestinians abroad, enough warming up! There are Jews everywhere! We must attack every Jew on planet Earth – we must slaughter and kill them, with Allah's help. Enough warming up!”
He went on to spur fellow Palestinian militants to purchase any weapons they need to murder their Jewish neighbors – arguing that Jews’ lives less than a few shekels, or under a dollar – one shekel is worth about 28 cents in United States currency.
"And I say to those in the West Bank: How long will you sit in silence?” Hammad posed to his Islamic followers. “You can buy knives for five shekels! How much is the neck of a Jew worth to us – isn't it worth five shekels, or even less?”
He followed up by telling suicide bombers to gear up, stating that their jihadist explosive devices are being manufactured to be worn and detonated by suicide bombers as they take out numerous Jews around them.
"By Allah, [the Jews] will be killed by our [explosive] belts, Allah willing!” Hammad shouted. “There are new factories for [explosive] belts and they are up and running. Anybody who wants one can wait his turn... you can have one, and you, and you... Go!”
He ended by stressing that his fellow anti-Semitic Palestinian jihadists are not afraid to die and relish the thought of being rewarded by the Islamic god, Allah, for dying while killing Jews.
"May the mediators and the Zionist enemy hear this message!” Hammad concluded. “If we die, we die – but we will die with honor, while attacking, and not while retreating! We will die while exploding and cutting the necks and legs of the Jews! We will lacerate them and tear them to pieces, Allah willing."
REMARKS: Many these days including the media focus on Iran as being the main threat to peace between Israel and Palestine. The ire of the people in Palestine is closer than that. Hamas is very angry, Hezbollah (from Lebanon) whose assets were recently frozen under accusation of their attempts to take down the Argentinian government has been at the ready for many, many years. The US declaring Jerusalem as the capital for Israel and the annexation of land in east Jerusalem for Israelis while Muslims are being pushed off the land they have lived on leads up to only one thing, war. I would take the warnings of Hamas very seriously. It should also be remembered that the goal of Isis is to retake al Quds and when the migration towards that starts, many other groups even those who disagree with them, may join. The Bible talks of 200 Million people coming up from Egypt towards Jerusalem. They will come from Egypt, from Yemen, and all the other Muslim lands, but prophecy says this is not yet. First there will be the seven year war in Israel where the bodies and blood will be up to the level of the bridals of the horses, and it will take years to bury the dead. At the 3 and 1/2 year mark, the anti-Christ rises to get a peace treaty signed. So pay attention to what is going on over there, because the anti-Christ will not seek to enslave those peoples over there, they are coming for your ass too. Biometric facial recognition technology, (whose images can be sent to the drones to take you out if you become too much of a problem), chip technology implanted in your hand or forehead for you to buy things with when we move to a cashless society (estimated to happen by 2024) etc. Be mindful, continue living your life, but start making a plan to get off the grid.
Sheikh Nasrullah explains that Hezbollah can send Israel back to the Stone Age, where they would target if war breaks out. He has maps.
My further remarks: Sheikh Nasrullah is right, it does not matter WHO starts the war, Israel even with the Iron Dome will not be safe or experience immunity. Lebanon hates them, Iran hates them, Syria is not on their side, who stands by their sides except the US? Does the US want to take on the entire Muslim world? Russia is a patriarch to Iran, a war between Russia and the US can mean what they call, 'mutually assured destruction' meaning both countries get nuked to death. We cannot start this or engage in this war and walk away unscathed. That is the point.
[Edited on 7/21/2019 by gina]
IRAN NOT SUPPLYING MISSILES YEMEN IS USING AGAINST SAUDI
The had an expositioin showing missiles and drones made in Yemen that are being used against the Saudis.
On July 7, 2019, Al-Masira TV (Yemen) aired a report about the opening of a Houthi military exhibition in Yemen that showcases locally-made ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, spy drones, and attack drones. The opening of the exhibition, which was named after Saleh Al-Samad, a Houthi official killed in a Saudi airstrike in 2018, was attended by Field Marshal Mahdi Al-Mashat, who is the president of the supreme political council and the supreme commander and the armed forces. The report showed Houthi officials cutting the red tape at the exhibit and unveiling the equipment, some of which had "Made in Yemen" written on it. A sign at the exhibit read: "Allah Akbar. Death to America. Death to Israel. May the Jews be cursed. Victory for Islam."
Yemeni Minister of Defense Major General Muhammad Nasser Al-Atifi said that the ballistic surface-to-surface missiles are the "long arm" of the Republic of Yemen and that they are Yemen's "strategic deterrence" meant to strike large strategic targets in the "countries of the aggression." He explained that Yemen has short-range, medium-range, and long-range tactical and ballistic missiles, and he thanked Allah, the men of Yemen's missile force, the "heroic" mujahideen on the front line, and the Yemeni people. The names of some of the equipment included Qasif, Sammad, Qahed-M2, Quds, and Badr.
REMARKS: So the Saudi belief that Iran is sending weapons that are being launched from Yemen at them may be incorrect.
STRAITS OF HORMUZ, IRAN
The US announced it is working on a plan with many other nations to keep the Straits of Hormuz open.
"We are starting a concept called Sentinel in which we will have a series of countries engaged to preserve the free and open passage of commerce in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Persian Gulf," US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood said at the Aspen Security Forum on Saturday".
RE: the so-called reported death of Hamza bin Laden
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/hamza-bin-laden-dead-203302748.html
All there is is the annual August fishing expedition of the intelligence agencies regarding the bin Laden family. When they KNEW Osama was alive, they would start rumors of his death to see if they could find out anything, now they do this with Hamza. They claim he was in Afghanistan/Pakistan - after Iran, the children who were still aligned with Osama went to Iraq to join Isis. So it is highly unlikely the intel boys have listened to "chatter" or conversations that indicate a US drone strike accidently killed him. This is just total bullshit.
IF they want to do something constructive other than create gossip they could look into WHY there were Daesh (alias Isis) commanders who were airlifted by US choppers from Kunar province, Charkando area of Noor Gul District in the Maza Valley IN AFGHANISTAN during the week of June 21st when the Afghan Taliban fighting became too much for them. There were reportedly "tens of American aircraft and hundreds of Kabul troops on the ground rescuing Daesh militia members and their families".
Saudi funds Blackwater mercenaries in Afghanistan and that is with the US's permission to fight against the Afghan Taliban.
We are shooting the wrong people and rescuing the wrong people in this war on terror.
DOMESTIC TERRORISM ACCORDING TO THE FBI
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fbi-domestic-terrorism_n_5d430db7e4b0acb57fc91818?yptr=yahoo
The FBI intelligence bulletin from the bureau’s Phoenix field office, dated May 30, 2019, describes “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists,”
In May, Michael C. McGarrity, the FBI’s assistant director of the counterterrorism division, told Congress the bureau now “classifies domestic terrorism threats into four main categories:
1. racially motivated violent extremism,
2. anti-government/anti-authority extremism,
3. animal rights/environmental extremism, and
4. abortion extremism,” a term the bureau uses to classify both pro-choice and anti-abortion extremists.
The new focus on conspiracy theorists appears to fall under the broader category of anti-government extremism. “This is the first FBI product examining the threat from conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists and provides a baseline for future intelligence products,” the document states.
The new category is different in that it focuses not on racial motivations, but on violence based specifically on beliefs that, in the words of the FBI document, “attempt to explain events or circumstances as the result of a group of actors working in secret to benefit themselves at the expense of others” and are “usually at odds with official or prevailing explanations of events.”
“The advent of the Internet and social media has enabled promoters of conspiracy theories to produce and share greater volumes of material via online platforms that larger audiences of consumers can quickly and easily access,”
The FBI document also cites an unnamed California man who was arrested on Dec. 19, 2018, after being found with what appeared to be bomb-making materials in his car. The man allegedly was planning “blow up a satanic temple monument” in the Capitol rotunda in Springfield, Ill., to “make Americans aware of Pizzagate and the New World Order, who were dismantling society,” the document says.
Identifying conspiracy theories as a threat could be a political lightning rod, since President Trump has been accused of promulgating some of them, with his frequent references to a deep state and his praise in 2015 for Alex Jones, who runs the conspiracy site InfoWars. While the FBI intelligence bulletin does not mention Jones or InfoWars by name, it does mention some of the conspiracy theories frequently associated with the far-right radio host, in particular the concept of the New World Order.
Jones claimed the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which 26 children were killed, was a hoax, a false flag operation intended as a pretext for the government to seize or outlaw firearms. The families of a number of victims have sued Jones for defamation, saying his conspiracy-mongering contributed to death threats and online abuse they have received.
While Trump has never endorsed Sandy Hook denialism, he was almost up until the 2016 election the most high-profile promoter of the birther conspiracy that claimed former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. He later dropped his claim, and deflected criticism by pointing the finger at Hillary Clinton. He said her campaign had given birth to the conspiracy, and Trump “finished it.”
Among the violent conspiracy theories cited in the May FBI document is one involving a man who thought Transportation Security Administration agents were part of a New World Order. Another focused on the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), a government-funded facility in Alaska that has been linked to everything from death beams to mind control. The two men arrested in connection with HAARP were “stockpiling weapons, ammunition and other tactical gear in preparation to attack” the facility, believing it was being used “to control the weather and prevent humans from talking to God.”
REMARKS: This is one slippery slope these ole boys are going down. Anti-govt./anti-authority?
I will finish this later....
[Edited on 8/2/2019 by gina]
